Spray shield assemblies are known (i.e., spray shield assemblies from Ryan Manufacturing, Box 239, Newark, Illinois 60541 or Hiniker Company, P.O Box 3407, Mankato, Minn. 56001) that are adapted to be attached to a frame moved over the crops or plants and that comprise liquid distribution means including an inlet adapted to be coupled to a source of liquid under pressure (e.g., a liquid pumping system on a tractor to which the frame is attached), two or three liquid outlet nozzles, and means (e.g., hoses and hose connectors) for distributing liquid from the inlet to the outlet nozzles Such spray shield assemblies have also each included a resiliently flexible shield (e.g., of a polymeric material or metal) defining a channel opening through one side and front and rear axially spaced ends of the shield, in which channel the crops or plants are temporarily positioned as the shield is moved over them, which channels have had semi cylindrical or semi rectangular cross sections, and means attached to a top part of the shield for suspending the shield from the support frame with edges along the open side of the shield adjacent the earth and for affording movement of the shield toward the rear of the frame and upward upon contact of its front end with the earth or an obstacle on the earth. Also, means are provided on those shield assemblies for mounting the outlet nozzles on the shields to position the nozzles with their outlet ends projecting from the inner surface of the spray shields to direct spray from the nozzles onto crops or plants in the shields.
In these known spray shield assemblies, however, the outlet nozzles are mounted at fixed locations relative to the shields, and can not be positioned at significantly different locations to accommodate crops or plants of different sizes or a desire to spray liquids at different locations on plants within the shield. Also, the spray shields have generally uniform cross sections along their lengths and have relatively square leading edges between their edges that define the bottom edges and leading edges of the shield, which structural combination does little to either minimize damage that might be caused by engagement of the leading edges of the shields with parts of plants that project past the sides of paths of the shields as the shields moves over them, or minimize the impact on the shield assemblies caused by contact of the spray shields with the earth or objects along rows of the crops or plants over which the spray shields are moved.